Gloves
by chibi demon scythe
Summary: Voltaire introduces Kai to his father's wife. She seems nice enough but what happened to Kai's father?
1. Max's Suggestion

Rated 'T' just to be on the safe side, could probably be K+ but anyway...**  
**

**Max's Suggestion**

'Hey, Kai, what are we gonna do?' Tyson asked, sighing and stretching, flopping back onto the thick carpet.

Kai shrugged, picking at his beyblade.

The world championships had just ended again and once again they had nothing to do, so they had all followed Kai back to his house. At the moment they were all lying or sitting around the lounge room.

'Hey…Kai I bet you have heaps of interesting stuff here,' Hilary suggested. She was hanging over the side of the sofa, trailing her hand along the carpet.

He shook his head.

'Um…hey, Voltaire's out of prison now, isn't he?' Ray asked.

Kai nodded, 'he paid bail.'

'What? He tried to take over the world! How can you pay bail for that?' Kenny demanded, Max laughing.

'He paid the _guards_.'

'…oh.'

'Well…um, hey! Kai! You don't know anything about your family right?' Max sat up suddenly, all traces of lethargy vanished.

'I know about Voltaire.' He muttered.

'No I mean your mum and dad! Why don't we go ask him?'

'Why?'

'Well don't you want to know? Aren't you even slightly curious?' Tyson said, joining in.

'No.'

'Well we don't have anything else to do, we may as well.' Ray stood up as he said this.

Kai glared at him but the others had already started standing up. He sighed and got to his feet.

It wasn't as if there was anything better to do anyway and besides, Voltaire probably wouldn't tell them anything anyway.

* * *

'You want to know about your parents?' Voltaire boomed, looking down and sneering at the children who had foiled his plan to take over the world. 

Kai nodded and crossed his arms, glaring at Ray, Max and Tyson out of the corner of an eye.

'…you may meet your father's wife, if it is that important to you.'

'What?' Kai started and couldn't help gaping at his grandfather.

'However! She is a very busy woman! It will probably take a month for her to get here!'

'Oh…so I guess we still have to figure out something to do…' Tyson muttered, ignoring Kai and his obvious shock.

'Yeah, I guess that wasn't such a good idea,' Ray crossed his arms behind his head and started following Tyson out of Voltaire's room.

Max stayed behind though and waited for Kai. He could practically hear the wheels turning in Kai's head and they were all saying the same thing: One month, one month and I'll meet my Mother…


	2. Clarisse

Thankyou(smile) I hope it does turn out interesting.

**Clarisse**

The month went by very slowly for Kai who suddenly acquired a longing to meet his parents. Ray had had to leave and go back to his village before the month was up but when the day finally arrived Max, Tyson, Kenny and Hilary were there with him.

'So, when she gonna get here?' Tyson asked, a bored expression on his face.

'Why don't we go wait outside?' Hilary smiled, 'then we can see what sort of car she has.'

'What if she walked?' Kenny replied as they all followed Hilary outside.

'Don't be silly, she wouldn't have walked! She's probably just as rich as Kai!' she said, sitting down on the steps as she spoke.

'Hey, do you think it's that car?' They stopped talking for a moment to gaze towards the car Tyson was pointing at. Car wasn't really the right word; it was a long black stretch limousine.

'I told you she was rich!' Hilary crowed triumphantly.

'That might not even be her in that car!' Kenny retorted, his voice rising.

The limo pulled up in front of the mansion and the conversation drew to a halt as first one then two men in black suits hopped out.

The Blade Breakers slowly got to their feet as one of the men turned towards the car and held his hand out to the person inside.

A tall woman with dark, wavy hair stepped out of the car. The second suited man reached into the front of the car and pulled out a long embroidered coat and held it out to the woman.

'No, Garco, I absolutely hate that coat, put it away.' She said, obviously used to giving orders and having them obeyed.

The man nodded gravely and silently replaced the coat in the car and brought out another one.

'Not that one either, I dislike them all. I see no reason to wear a coat today.'

The man paused for a moment, his eyes going to the woman's clothes. She was wearing a sleeveless plain white t-shirt, black leather pants and fitted boots. A pair of black gloves were stuck through her belt.

'Madam…' he begun.

'It is only Voltaire and the child I will be seeing today, put it away.'

_Only _Voltaire Kai stared; he had never heard anyone refer to Voltaire as '_only_' before.

The man bowed his head once again and placed the coat back into the car and closed the door and then made a move to accompany her.

'No, I shall not need you today.' Was all she said before she walked past the Blade Breakers and up through the door.

'Wow, she's even got guards!' Hilary exclaimed happily as they followed the woman back into Kai's house.

* * *

When they arrived they found the woman and Voltaire already talking. Voltaire and the woman stopped talking as they entered and the woman turned to face them. 

'Kai, this is Clarisse.' Voltaire said and the woman bowed her head slightly in greeting.

'Please call me Claire.' Was all she said.

'Clarisse, the box is in the lounge room. I believe Kai and the others,' he sneered slightly at Tyson, 'wanted you to tell them about Kai's parents.'

'I gathered as much from your letter,' Claire replied before ignoring him, 'come, I will tell you what you wish to know.' And she walked over to the lounge room door, dutifully followed by the Blade Breakers.

'Close the door behind you.' Claire said as Max, the last person, entered.

Max shut the door and then moved to sit next to Tyson. They were sitting around a cardboard box in the middle of the room, the table and couches had been pushed away so there was a comfortable amount of room for them all to sit.

Claire pulled the box towards her and started looking through it. It was filled with photo albums, letters and various other items and was fairly dusty.

'So, you're Kai's mother?' Hilary asked, her eyes trained on Claire. She couldn't help but noticing that she looked nothing like Kai. She was an attractive woman and the only hint to her age were the few lines around her eyes and the somber turn to her mouth. But she did not resemble Kai.

Claire didn't reply.

'Who was my father?' Kai asked, leaning forward slightly.

'Your father was Michael Hiwatari.' She finally said, earning a glare from Hilary. 'He was a great disappointment to your family.'

'What?'

'I believe he did not at all live up to the Hiwatari name, as Voltaire put it.'

'Could he beyblade?' Tyson interrupted.

'…No.' Claire replied, leaning even further into the box. 'Dear me, they don't seem to be here…now what on earth is this?' she reappeared from the box holding a white, blood-stained shirt.

'Eww! What is that?' Hilary leaned away, her fingers curling.

'Why would Voltaire keep this?' She stared at the shirt for a moment before throwing it negligently behind her where it landed on the top of a sofa.

'So um…Claire…' Max began a bit awkwardly, not sure what to call her.

Claire nodded, 'yes?'

'Are you a Hiwatari? Why does Voltaire call you Clarisse? You don't seem to like it much…' he trailed off.

'Because Voltaire is an annoying old man,' she said, glaring at an imaginary Voltaire, 'yes, I changed my name to Hiwatari when I married Michael.'

'And are you Kai's mother or not?&!' Hilary demanded.

Kai stopped eyeing the shirt and looked back to the group, not being able to look at Claire while she answered…

'I am getting to that! My girl you are most impatient.' Claire said, 'now here, this is what I was looking for.' She said a bit more calmly, pulling some photos out of the box.

They all leaned forward to get a better look, Kai slightly disappointed at Claire's response. There were three photographs, two of a wedding and one of a man and a woman standing together.

'Now here,' Claire pointed to one of the wedding photos. 'This is Michael Hiwatari.'

The picture was of Claire and Michael standing with their arms around each other in front of a huge wedding cake. They were both smiling and looking very happy.

'Wow, Kai, he sorta looks like you…' Kenny said, he was lying down and had crept between his taller friends so he could see.

Michael Hiwatari was taller than the Claire in the photo. His hair was the same colour as Kai's but it wasn't spiky, it was a fairly normal hair-do. He had broad shoulders and his face was slightly squarer than Kai's. He looked like a nice person and very happy man.

Claire was looking very beautiful in the photo in a strapless, close fitting white dress.

'Oh, what a nice dress!' Hilary cooed.

'How…how old are you?' Kai asked, noticing the faded colours of the photo.

'My dear,' she said leaning back and staring Kai right in the eyes, 'you should never ask a woman her age.'

'Huh?'

'And if you guess always make sure to guess at least five years younger than you really think and please, make sure you never guess _older_ than her age.'

'Well how old _are_ you?' Tyson demanded.

'What did I just say? Now here,' Claire removed the picture of the happy couple and showed them the other wedding picture.

It was…interesting to say the least.

'Oh my god, the cake!' Hilary gaped, her hands covering her mouth, 'and your dress!'

'Why is he holding a football?' Max asked.

'…' Kai said nothing as Tyson moaned about the destruction of such a wonderful looking cake.

The picture showed Michael Hiwatari lying in the middle of the cake, it looked like he had fallen into it. He was holding his hands above his head and in them was a football. There was a huge grin on his face and he was looking towards someone not in the photo, his eyes sparkling. Claire was standing next to the cake, the picture had probably been taken only a few moments after the first picture. Claire's dress was covered in chocolate wedding cake and so was her hair. Her hands were clenched at her sides and she was glaring at Michael and it looked like there were tears in her eyes.

'What…happened?' Max asked, still staring at the picture.

'One of his friends threw him a football, he had rather disgusting friends. As you can see…he ruined the wedding.' Claire said, removing the picture and sitting up again, running her eyes over Kai's friends meaningly.

'Was it a nice cake?' Tyson moaned, his hands covering his eyes.

'Oh I do not know, my dear, no one got to eat any, not after Michael had been in it. I had it made specially…do you know that wedding cakes are traditionally _fruit_ cakes?' she shook her head. 'Completely ruined…'

'Was your dress ok?' Hilary asked timidly, a horrified look in her eyes.

She shook her head again, 'ruined. Everything was ruined; he was very pleased about it if I remember correctly.'

'Did he…did he do things like that a lot?' Kai asked, a sinking feeling in his chest.

'He was a disappointment. Now look at this picture,' Claire showed them the last picture; it was the one of the two people standing together.

Now that they had seen the other pictures they could see that the man was Michael, but they didn't know the woman. They were smiling into the camera and had their arms around each other. The woman had blonde spiky hair and freckles, a pink plastic bangle was around her wrist.

'Who's that?' Hilary asked, leaning forward again now there was a new picture to examine.

Kai looked closer too, the picture of Michael and Claire held in his hand. 'She…who is she?'

Claire turned over the picture, on the back was written _Tilda Foxblade_.

'Tilda Foxblade? Was that her name?' Max asked.

'Tilda was her name, I still do not know what her last name was.' Claire said.

'But it says right there, Foxblade.'

'My dear no one, _no one_ is called Foxblade. It took me so long to find that silly little caravan of hers.'

'She was Kai's mother?' Hilary asked suddenly.

Claire nodded, 'yes she was.'

Kai took the picture from her and stared at the two people…_Tilda and Michael…they look happy._

'Wait but you…'

'Michael never saw fit to get a divorce before beginning his affair with Tilda.'

Kai's eyes widened. That put a whole new spin on things…

'So how did they meet?' Tyson asked. He was lying on his stomach like Kenny now.

'Tilda was a secretary at an accountant's office on the opposite side of town to Michael and his law office. I have no idea how they met.'

'He was a lawyer?' Kenny asked, a touch of awe in his voice. 'He must have been really smart!'

'No, no, no, no, _no_.' Claire shook her head with each no, 'Voltaire paid a ridiculous amount to get the university to take him.'

'But he must have passed…'

'Yes he passed, and he was always only ever a mediocre lawyer. I suppose,' she said thoughtfully, 'that we shouldn't have expected great things from him in the field of law when he always wanted to be a plumber.'

'A _plumber?_' Kai said, staring at Claire.

'Yes, he was going to start up his own plumbing business. _Hiwatari Plumbers_. Of course Voltaire would never have that so we set him up in a law office.'

'Well if you helped Voltaire crush his dream I'm not surprised he had an affair.' Hilary said snidely just loud enough to be heard.

'Yes, yes, that's what the grandmother said, numerous times. However if he was so very unhappy with me he could have just gotten a divorce, he made things much more difficult as a result.'

'Where is he? What happened to him?' Kai suddenly demanded. _Was. She always says 'was'._

'Where is he? I believe he is…six feet under.'

'What…?'

'You mean he's _dead_?' Hilary gasped.

'Yes indeed, they are both dead.' Claire nodded.

'What happened to them?' Kai asked, a cold feeling coming over him…dead? Could it be true? Both of them?

'He died in my arms…after I killed him.'


	3. Boris's Present

Thankyou so much for the reviews, I hope this chapter doesn't seem to silly, but you know…Boris probably would if he had the chance…probably…

The next chapter will probably be the last one if I have enough time to write it before I go on holidays (Europe, yay!), otherwise I'll split it into two chapters.

**Boris's Present**

'AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!' Hilary shrieked, 'you murderer!'

That jolted them out of their shock and there was a group shuffling away from Claire. Kai however stayed where he was…he felt like he had just been hit with a sledgehammer.

'OH MY GOD!' Kenny suddenly yelled, jolting up and hitting his head on Tyson's chin.

'Ow…' Tyson muttered, rubbing his chin.

'YOU-YOU COULD KILL US TOO!'

'No, no, don't be silly, I'm not wearing my killing gloves.' Claire said, shaking her head. It was unnoticed by the Blade Breakers as they were too freaked, but Claire did not look towards Kai and she kept her eyes from meeting those of anyone.

'Your killing gloves?' Tyson asked, on his knees. Max and Hilary were standing up behind him looking ready to run.

'Yes my killing gloves, a lady must have gloves for every occasion. These are my gloves here.' Claire said, pointing towards the gloves stuck in her belt.

'I don't think ladies go around killing people!' Hilary said, her voice still high-pitched.

'Wait, if you have your gloves here- you were planning to kill us! OH MY GOD! We're trapped!' Kenny yelled, suddenly darting away from his friends and beginning searching frantically for an escape.

'No no, I always lose these gloves so I keep them with me now. My other gloves are in the trunk of the car.'

'So…if you didn't have your gloves, you wouldn't kill anyone?' Max asked slowly.

'If I wasn't wearing my killing gloves I wouldn't kill anyone, correct.'

'Sounds like you're used to murdering…' Hilary muttered.

'No, only a few times, my servants usually do it for me.'

Kai's eyes went to the gloves in her belt. No gloves, no killing. If there had been no gloves…then his parents would still be alive.

The conversation died down to frightened mutters and Kenny tried to figure out how to get the door open. While Claire was busy putting the photos Kai hadn't taken back in the box, Kai leaned out and swiftly pulled her gloves from her belt and then stood up abruptly, stuffing the gloves in his pocket.

Kai stalked out of the room, barging past Kenny and, to Kenny's astonishment, getting the door open quite easily.

* * *

'Why'd you kill them?' Tyson asked, settling down a bit after they had all had a good yell at Claire and Kai had left.

Claire didn't answer, instead she stood up and sat down on the couch, putting about a meter and a half between her and the Blade Breakers. 'It was very hard to find them…'

'Why?' Tyson sat down on the other side of the table from her, settled but still nervous.

'Well I couldn't look in the book with all the addresses, not without her last name, I had to go ask her boss…after finding him.'

'Did you look?' Max asked, he and Hilary hadn't yet sat down again.

'What?'

'In the phone book.'

'No, of course not, no one is called Foxblade.'

'But maybe she _was_!'

'No, don't be silly,' Claire waved that absurdity off with her hand. 'Real people do not have names like Foxblade.'

'But-'

'No, no.'

'Well…maybe I'll go look…' Max muttered walking out the way Kai had gone.

'W-wait for me, Max!' Kenny yelled, running off after him.

'So…did you go to jail?' Hilary asked, sitting down next to Tyson a bit awkwardly.

'No, according to everyone but Tilda's grandmother…they have both been on holiday for the last fifteen years.'

'What?&!' they both gasped, 'but you killed them!'

'I did, and Voltaire organized the cover-up for me. It's all been very inconvenient, it's very hard to get divorced to someone who's dead when everyone thinks he's still alive.'

'Hey, if you can cover up murder why can't you just forge his signature or something?'

'What? I've never met anyone who could scrawl like he could. Here,' she said after a moment fishing a letter out of the box, 'look at his awful handwriting, you think anyone could forge that?'

* * *

'Voltaire!' Kai yelled, throwing the door to his grandfather's room open.

'What?' Voltaire yelled in return, turning his craggy face to Kai.

'She-she killed them!'

'I know, what do you want?'

'What? She-but, your son! That woman killed your son!'

'And what good he was to! The only good thing he ever did was get Clarisse into the family and father you! Though you didn't turn out as well as I thought…' he glowered at his grandson.

'But…'

'What?'

'…' Kai sighed, relaxing his taut body. This was Voltaire he was talking to, what had ever made him think he'd care? 'Did they love each other?' he asked hollowly.

'Hah! He was too stunned she agreed to marry him to love her properly! Clarisse is a very important woman, boy, and she comes from a very interesting family, which has done nothing but good for Hiwatari Corp! Her nephew is an excellent asset in particular! You'll meet him when you inherit the business.'

'I didn't mean _them_…'

'What? You mean that woman of his? She lived in a trailer.'

'_So?_'

'Make sure you never marry below you, boy, not that I would let you…'

'…' _I don't want to get married._

'Now! Go down to the basement! Boris left a little surprise for you.'

'Like what? Do you have another Black Dranzer?' he sneered.

'Kai! I gave you an order! Go now! And take Clarisse!'

* * *

Kai sulked into the basement, Claire and his friends around him.

Voltaire was already down there, or more specifically, in the little control room that looked down into the basement. The basement was a bit like Balkov Abbey was under the abbey bit. Under the control room were tanks like the one Tala had been in while Boris made him a cyborg. Only two of the tanks seemed to be active though.

'I gave the bodies of your parents to Boris, Kai, and this is what he did with them…'

'…!'

'I never thought to do anything with them until now, Clarisse, wait a bit before killing them again.'

Claire glared up at the control booth.

Kai stumbled forward, staring at the two tubes. Slowly the green liquid drained away and with a hiss and some steam, the glass doors lifted up.


	4. The Video

Nyeh...took me ages to upload this document, for some reason it wouldn't work while it was a word document so I had to copy it over to notepad and then put all the italics and stuff back in afterwards...

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this chapter (grin). I'm going to Europe for 3 weeks on Saturday so I won't update for er...at least 3 weeks...unless I write the last bit tomorrow and don't proofread it and stuff...

Oh, I got the first 3 dvds of V-Force today! So happy!

**The Video**

_What would I have been like if I'd been raised by Michael and Tilda?_ Was one of the thoughts spinning through Kai's mind as the tanks ever so slowly opened.

'I expect people I kill to stay dead, Voltaire.' Claire said as the steam cleared.

'Yes, yes, most people do, Clarisse. Let Kai say hello to them first though.' Voltaire replied, waving his hand once as Claire spun on her heel and stalked out of the basement.

Kai ignored the interchange between Claire and Voltaire and focussed all his attention on the tanks, a strange fluttery feeling in his chest.

'Michael,' Voltaire bellowed as a blue and grey haired man stepped out of the tank and looked around vaguely. 'If you remember, Clarisse murdered you and that _other_ woman. Boris revived you for little Kai here though, I've been keeping you in these tanks til he showed an interest. It's been 15 years by the way.'

'Mi-Michael, what does that mean?' a frightened woman's voice said. Then the two people were both standing before Kai.

They didn't look very different from the picture he had of them.

'I think he means what he just said, Tilda…'

'Hey guys!' came a familiar voice from the stairs and the Blade Breakers, bar Kai, all looked around to see Ray making his way happily over to them.

'Ray, I didn't know you were back…' Max murmured.

'I just got back now! I wanted to meet Kai's parents too, have I missed anything?'

'Um…er, we'll fill you in…' Max said and beckoned the black-haired blader over.

Just then Claire came back into the basement, a huge gun resting on her shoulder.

'AHHHH!' the blonde woman screamed, 'Michael, it's her! She's back! Look!' she yelled, pointing a wavering finger at Claire who had set the gun down before her. It was taller than Claire and about as wide as her at the base.

'And that's the woman who killed Kai's parents…' Max finished off, pointing at Claire.

'What? Her? Really?' Ray asked, disbelief plain for anyone to see in his eyes and voice.

'Do you not _see_ the gun she's got Ray, do you not _see_?' Hilary glared at him and crossed her arms across her chest.

'Uh…well I guess you have a point.'

'Oh do stop whining,' Claire said, glaring at Tilda, 'I've lost my killing gloves again, I shouldn't even be holding this without them.'

Kai, who had tuned in enough to hear that bit, grabbed his pocket briefly and then let go. So he was right, without her gloves she wouldn't harm his parents again.

Claire stepped away from the gun, which titled back a bit, and moved to the side of the basement, 'I will find my gloves and then I'll have to kill you again…'

Tilda grasped onto Michael's arm, 'let's go! Let's run away while she's looking!'

'Tilda…wait…' Michael said slowly, his eyes fixed on Kai.

'What? Why…' Tilda trailed off as her eyes followed Michael's and she noticed Kai for the first time. 'Is that…is that?'

'Yes, yes, woman, that is your son.' Voltaire yelled, glaring craggily down at Tilda. 'His name is Kai Hiwatari.'

'Of course his name is Kai Hiwatari, that's what I named him!' Tilda yelled. She had quite a high-pitched voice. 'Oh, how are you? That awful man hasn't done anything to you has he?' Tilda said to Kai, her voice softening.

Kai shook his head roughly, he didn't really want to explain about the whole Biolvolt plan to take over the world thing right now.

'Oh, don't be silly Tilda, dad isn't that bad.' Michael said.

'What? Not that bad! He-he let you marry that woman! That murderess!' she pointed at Claire again who was now on all fours patting the ground, 'gloves…gloves…'. It didn't look all that undignified when Claire was doing it.

'Michael, my dear,' Claire said coolly from the ground, 'the only reason Voltaire was 'not that bad' to you was that you were not useful to him in any way, Kai, I have been led to believe, was extremely useful.'

'Oh…well I'm glad he didn't disappoint you, dad.' Michael murmured, slightly surprised Claire was talking to him.

'Kai astounded Boris.' Voltaire replied, his normally loud voice seeming even louder after Micahel's softness. 'Hah! Two worthless creatures combined created a child that was genetically perfect! You did two useful things in your life, my son!'

'Oh, well I guess that's quite good…Anyway,' Michael turned to Kai and said somewhat awkwardly, 'how…are you?'

Kai didn't know what to say…his parents…they…he swallowed thickly and continued staring at Michael Hiwatari and Tilda Foxblade. _My parents_… how could he possibly answer that question? How could he ever have enough time to tell them everything he wanted to tell them?

'Oh, my poor baby, I was so frightened for you when that woman took you away from me!' Tilda held out her hands to Kai, as if she would hug him, but she didn't take a step towards him.

_Took me away?_ Kai cast a cold, hate-filled glare towards Claire, _so, killing my parents wasn't enough, she had to steal me from them first._

'How are you? Have you been eating right? Do you go to school? Have you got any girlfriends? What do you do on weekends?'

Kai nodded mutely to the second and third questions and didn't properly hear the others. _Mother…Father…_

Voltaire's loud, irreverent laugh broke through Kai's dreaminess for a moment. 'Before you get all lovey-dovey with your parents, boy, you might want to see something.'

All eyes turned to Voltaire, except for Tilda and Claire's. 'Do you remember that video, Clarisse?'

Michael gasped and Claire answered Voltaire without looking up, 'yes I do, you have such unpleasant things, Voltaire, I'd thank you to leave that video out of this.'

'Video? What video?' Tilda looked at Michael and then up at Voltaire and back to Michael.

'Don't you remember? The video camera that was set up the day Claire came…'

'Oh…Oh!' a hand went to her mouth and her skin paled.

'Kai, I think you would like to see this video.' Voltaire said, a smirk curving his mouth.

'Dad, no!' 'You evil old man, how dare you!' Michael and Tilda cried in unison.

'Voltaire, do get rid of that thing, there is no need to see this video of yours.' Claire said quite calmly, standing up now and observing the basement with a slight crinkle in her forehead. _Where are my gloves?_

Kai glanced at his parents and then at Claire…_neither of them want me to see this video…I bet Voltaire just wants me to see my parents' last moments. …maybe they didn't die honourably or anything like that, but I don't care and I don't need to see any video._

'Kai, look up here!' Voltaire barked, 'make sure you watch every moment!'

'_VOLTAIRE!_' Claire suddenly yelled, startling Kai and pretty much everyone, 'I object to the showing of that video!'

'Don't be absurd, Kai can handle it.'

'I care not what the boy can handle! _DO NOT SHOW THAT VIDEO_!'

'He is my grandson, Clarisse, and I will show him what I like.'

'Coot,' she murmured, glaring darkly up at Voltaire, her hands clenched by her sides. 'You will regret this, Voltaire. I have asked you not to and you insist on displeasing me.'

'It's nothing personal, this is a family matter.'

Kai stared at Claire and then up at Voltaire. Why would she object so strongly? Even Michael and Tilda seemed surprised (or scared) by her outburst. 'Show the video!' Kai suddenly yelled, 'get it over with Voltaire, I don't care! But as soon as it's over I get to leave with my parents!'

Claire and Voltaire both glanced at Kai, Claire with a little bit of surprise. 'Hmph,' was all Voltaire said before turning and slipping a video into the VCR.

Suddenly a big TV-screen above the tanks flickered to life and the inside of a messy caravan appeared.


	5. Farewells

I'm back from my holiday. It was really cool. My powers of description suck and I can only describe everything as either, 'really cool' or 'quite good'. But yeah, it was um…really good. Yeah.

Now to reply to reviews…

edsprincess02: No one will be gay, don't worry (grin). I quite like gay pairings in my other fandoms (zoroluffy anyone?), but I hate it in Beyblade for some reason. Thanks for reviewing. :)

Kuro kaen: I'll go with shock yes, I think if he had time to think about it properly between the stuff happening, he'd freak out and have a properly dramatic and thoroughly un-Kai like response, but seeing as it's all happening at once, I guess he doesn't have any time to reflect on it. Thanks for reviewing. :)

Anyway, this is…the second ending I've ever written as I usually write stupidly long unfinishable things (my other fanfic is over 100 chapters and I'm still writing it…), so I hope it's at the very least mildly satisfactory.

Also, I got my hands on a copy of Beyblade the Movie: Fierce Battle (today actually). Why is it Kai and Ray are the only two not to appear in swimsuits? (Kenny's swimsuit has scared be for life.) Anyway, not nearly enough Kai but I really liked it and am uber happy I finally got to see it.

I hope everyone likes this chapter and thankyou for reading this far and reviewing or, as it may be, not reviewing and yay, I actually finished writing something!

**Farewells**

The video screen flickered to life and the inside of a messy caravan appeared. A kitchen, furry green lounge, a clothesline and a cradle were all haphazardly stuffed inside a very small caravan which by all rights shouldn't have been able to hold all the crap that was inside it.

'_TILDA, FEED THE BABY!'_ a crackly old voice called from the other side of an open door.

'It's not crying yet!' someone yelled back sulkily. But that someone stomped into the crowded room anyway and leant over the cradle that had been placed next to the door. Tilda poked the thing inside the cradle.

'Hey, Tilda!' a head appeared in front of the camera and blocked the rest of the caravan out for a moment before the person managed, through sheer luck, to get over to Tilda and the baby without tripping on anything. 'I got some things for the baby!' Michael Hiwatari said excitedly and looked down into the cradle…_cooing._

'Hmph. Well I'm feeding it, you can play with it later.' Tilda said, crossing her arms over her chest and then leaning over into the cradle.

'Oh I'm sorry,' came a calm, cool voice. 'You'll have to have someone else feed it.'

The colour drained from Michael's face and he and Tilda slowly straightened as Claire stepped into the caravan, somehow not getting in the way of the camera as Michael had.

'I DON'T HEAR FEEDING!' The crackly voice yelled again and stomped through the door, not waiting for a reply. The old crone who appeared glared at the assembled persons sharply and picked up the baby. 'Three of you and not one of you could feed the baby.' She said. '_Hmph_.'

'I am sorry, my dear lady, I have come on business.' Claire said, 'I was unaware there were starving children here. Shall I take this outside?'

'It's not a _children,_' Tilda said derisively, 'it's a _baby._ And what do you want anyway?' her voice losing its edge and taking a flying leap into the land of uncertainty.

'Claire, Claire,' Michael said, stepping towards her and holding out his hands, 'it's-it's a mistake! I'm- I'm just helping out, they don't have much money, and, and I have to take care of my mistakes. L-look around!'

The back of Claire's dark head turned slowly from one side to the other. 'Quaint.' She said when she'd finished. 'If it bothers you so much, I can have your money sent to the lady after you're dead. That should be quite enough to feed it.'

The old lady's eagle-like eyes moved sharply to Claire and Michael withdrew his breath audibly.

'Clarisse, dear,' Michael said again, an air of hopelessness about him, 'alcohol, you know? Clar-'

'Michael, I've always hated that name, why are you calling me that when I'm already going to kill you?'

Tilda finally caught on and the old lady squawked, '_what!_ Get out of my caravan! Out!'

'Certainly, if Michael and Tilda would just come with me…'

'Wh-what! Me too!' Tilda shrieked, her voice rising a number of octaves and starting to waver.

'Both of you.'

'He-he! It was a mistake! He-he took advantage of me, it was all his fault!' Tilda shouted, pointing a wildly swinging finger at Michael.

'She put…she put drugs! And, the drugs, they-'

Michael and Tilda both babbled louder and louder, their explanations and accusations getting more and more ridiculous. Behind the cacophony of the two parents the old woman was yelling and shouting at Clarisse and demanding she get out of her caravan.

'So,' Clarisse said after a few painfully loud minutes, her voice cutting sharply through the noise, 'Tilda raped Michael, and then Michael raped her, and then Tilda took up prostitution and Michael's friend got him drunk before pushing you both into a river, and this is only your second meeting. Is that right so far?'

They both stopped their yelling (the old lady didn't though) and suddenly seemed to realise the stupidity of what they had just been saying.

'Now,' Claire said. She stepped forward and suddenly one gloved hand slammed into the side of Michael's face. Michael crashed into a pile of plates and then the wall, sliding down, his eyes opening again once he reached the floor.

Tilda gave a little scream and the old lady started yelling about plates instead of caravans.

'Stop, stop!' Tilda yelled, taking a half-step over to Michael and crouching down beside him.

Claire was silent, but something in her expression seemed to prompt Tilda to action. Tilda leapt up from Michael and stumbled over and through a number of things to reach her mother. Michael slowly stood up, his eyes half closed, rubbing his cheek.

'Take- take this!' Tilda said, she had come back and was holding a bundle of blankets out to Claire.

'Tilda, you give that back!' Commanded the old lady furiously.

'T-Tilda- stop!' Michael managed.

'This is it, this is the baby.' Tilda said, a triumphant gleam coming to her eyes. 'If it's gone, no one will ever know about Michael and I, it will be as if we never met! And-and you won't be embarrassed! Your honour will be saved!'

'T-Tilda!'

Tilda turned her head to Michael, and his horrified features faded to uncertainty.

'You take the baby, and leave us alone, and we'll never see each other again.' Tilda said to Claire though she was still looking at Michael, her tone suggesting everything was now settled.

Michael slowly nodded, he was biting his lower lip and his eyes showed an inner struggle going on.

'Give me the baby.' Claire said, silent up until then.

Tilda breathed a sigh of relief and Michael looked even worse as Tilda placed the little bundle of blankets in Claire's hands.

Kai was very still, managing by will power alone to focus on the last little bit of the video that showed Claire turning around and walking out of the caravan. Then Voltaire started speaking and fast-forwarding the video.

Kai didn't pay any attention. His head seemed to be filled with a loud buzzing. Kai's hand clenched around the black gloves in his pocket.

Claire was silent beside him and Tilda and Michael were looking very guilty. Or, Michael had gone grey and there was an air of defeat and resignation about him while Tilda seemed to be trying to come up with an explanation, but Kai noticed none of it.

_You take the baby._

Voltaire spoke, either unaware or just ignoring Kai's numbness. 'Now,' he said in his craggy voice, 'Clarisse brought young Kai to me and then went back to the caravan to take care of them.' There seemed to be traces of a laugh in his voice. 'Hah. They lived two hours longer because of Tilda's…_cunning_.'

The video came to a halt and again, started playing, and once again Claire was in the caravan.

It all passed in a blur to Kai. He was vaguely aware of people looking shocked, then there was a gunshot. It all ended in Claire doing something to Michael's neck and the old woman collapsing in a faint.

The video came to a stop and Kai slowly regained awareness. Inside his heart, anger was in a fierce struggle with loss and rejection, while disbelief was quietly sulking in a corner.

He clenched his hand around the gloves again, made up his mind about something and withdrew his hand from his pocket.

'No, Kai, we can explain!' Tilda tried to sound soothing though her voice was heavily laced with panic.

Kai's hand stayed, unwavering over Claire's hand, which she held out for her gloves. His hand didn't move, but not because anyone had any hope of changing his mind, but because he wanted the full attention of his…_parents_ when he handed the gloves to Claire.

'Two lives are-are more important than one!' Tilda was saying, 'and we could have had you again!'

'Tilda…it doesn't work like that…' Michael mumbled.

'What?' she rounded on Michael, genuinely astonished.

'If we had another baby, it wouldn't have um…been Kai. It would have been a…_different_ baby.'

'Different?' Tilda paused for a moment, turning this over in her mind. 'Well…but if you can save a lot of people by sacrificing one, you should do it!' Tilda turned back to Kai as she said this, looking at him beseechingly as Kai looked right through her.

So far Tilda and Michael were the only ones not to notice what Kai held in his hand.

Michael's eyes drifted downwards and he slumped, like an invisible force was pulling him down. It seemed he knew there was nothing he could say that would make Kai forgive him, or even glance towards the road of forgiveness.

'Hey! What's that in your hand?' Tilda demanded and suddenly Michael's eyes snapped up to Kai's and all attention was on him.

There was silence; in that everyone stopped talking though there was still the sound of breathing and fidgeting and all the usual basement sounds.

Then Kai, focusing first on Michael's eyes and then Tilda's, dropped the black leather gloves into Claire's hand.

That movement stretched out forever in the minds of Kai, Tilda and Michael. And for them, everything silenced completely, the sound of the gloves hitting Claire's hand as loud as a boulder slamming into concrete. But for everyone else, there was just a soft thump and then Claire said, 'so that's where they got to.'

One side of Claire's mouth curved up in a grin and she hefted the giant gun over her shoulder, her legs apart and knees bent to support the weight of the gun.

Tilda's face went pale and for once she was silent, half formed words escaping her lips as she tried to think of something to say.

Kai felt hard and frosty inside and turned away from his parents. He didn't care what happened now, it was none of his business.

Then, slowly, there was the sound of the gun hitting the ground and Claire sighed. 'You're not worth it, not twice.'

Kai, mildly surprised but uninterested, started walking away and up the stairs leading out of the basement, his friends taking a bit longer to follow him.

'Remove yourselves from here,' Claire said to Tilda and Michael as Kai walked away, 'everyone thinks you've been on holiday for the last fifteen years, I can't imagine any of your friends will be pleased with you. Your Mother died seven years ago by the way.' Claire trailed off, leaving, that last bit for Tilda specifically.

* * *

Somehow, when Kai reached the front steps of the mansion, Claire was already there, leaning against the side of her limousine and listening to the reports of her two guards.

'…Miss Clarisse, your bear hunting gloves arrived…'

'…excellent…'

Behind him there was the sound of a small explosion as Tilda flew down the steps, Michael dragged along behind her. Without glancing at either Kai or Claire, or even pausing, they flew off down the street.

A moment later, after the two had disappeared, Tyson and the others, at a leisurely pace, sauntered down the stairs to Kai.

Before they could say anything Claire turned away from her butlers (one of whom was holding out a fancy glove sized box for inspection) and turned her attention to Kai.

'I do hope you'll be ok.' She said.

Kai made a rather vague sound that could have been a '_hmph.'_

'How is that…beyblading going by the way?'

'Hn?' Kai actually turned some attention to Claire, not much though.

'Hey, how do you know about that?' Kenny asked.

Tyson wasn't in any mood to comment about television.

'Oh, I checked in on him from time to time after I left him with Voltaire.' She said off-handily.

Kai's brow furrowed for a moment, 'if you checked on me from time to time,' he said coldly, 'how come you didn't know about Boris?'

'My dear boy,' she said nonchalantly, 'I am a very busy woman, when I say time to time I mean every few years. I can't be looking after you all the time, you're not mine you know. Now,' she said, leaving a slight pause, 'how old do you think I am?'

Kai paused and turned his eyes to her. What had she said? That's right, always tell a woman she's at least 5 years younger than you really think she is. Kai observed her face for a moment, noting the slight crinkles around the corner of her eyes and the tilt to her mouth. _She looks about thirty-five…_

'You're thirty.'

Suddenly the corners of her mouth turned up in a wide smile and her eyes glowed, making her seem a whole lot longer, 'I am forty. So you remembered what I said.' Claire's eyes twinkled and Kai couldn't help returning a small, quick grin.

'Goodbye.' Kai said, which was unlike him (as were 'hello's) and moved off down the sidewalk, Kenny, Hilary and Tyson quickly jumping down after him.

'Hey, what is it you do anyway?' Ray asked as he passed Claire.

'I'm the President of three different countries; no country knows that I rule all three.'

'What? You are?' Max gasped.

'Doesn't that make diplomatic relations a little difficult?' Ray asked.

'It's all part of the job.'

'Er, do you really need three countries?'

Claire directed Max a look that could have meant anything before moving into the limousine (one of her guards had opened the door for her). 'I wish you all luck.' Was all she said, a trace of a smile coming back to her lips, before the door shut behind her and the limousine sped off.

There was a sigh and then they all joined Kai and started walking towards the end of the street. A silent knowledge hanging between them that there was going to be a lot of obsessive beyblading to do to work this one out…

'Hey, Kai, are you ok?' Kenny asked after a moment.

'Hmph.'

'Kai,' Hilary said uncharacteristically gently, 'there're lots of people who can help with this sort of thing…'

'You mean a counsellor.' Kai said stonily, his voice telling Hilary _exactly_ what he thought about that suggestion.

'Hey Kai, what are you going to do if you see them again, I mean any of them?' Max asked.

'_Hmm…_pretend they don't exist…None of this ever happened, got that?' he suddenly said, a strong hint of warning in his voice. He was _not_ having these guys (especially Hilary) bring this up to try and make him feel better about it, talk about it or _anything_!'

'Uh, what about Claire? I don't think she'd like being ignored.' Tyson pointed out, already thinking about when he should bring this up to try and make Kai feel better about it.

'Yeah…she might kill you!' Kenny shivered.

'…' They had a point. 'Fine. Don't ignore Claire, ignore everyone else.'

'Hey, if you ever need to talk, buddy,' Tyson said, about to pat Kai on the back when Kai threw him a truly stunning death glare.

'I won't.'

'Well just if you do…' Ray said, somehow finding the strength to persevere despite the fact that Kai's glare was slowly turning him to stone. 'We're always here if you need to talk, you know?'

'Hmph. I'll be fine.' Kai said and then, after a moment of thinking about it, decided he meant it. Maybe not today, or for a very long time, he thought. _I've gotten along fine all these years without parents. I got over Voltaire using me_. He added and then smirked.

'Yo, Kai, are you ok? You aren't going crazy, are you?&!' Tyson said, jumping at the sight of Kai's smirk.

_No, I'm not ok Tyson, but I will be, and until then…_ Kai laughed (which didn't help Tyson's worries by the way) and then ran on ahead of them a little way.

'Come on,' he called, 'let's go beyblade!'


End file.
